Obligation

California regulators have approved a one-time contractual waiver to allow Chevron Corp. to lower its obligation for capacity on Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) backbone natural gas transmission system by 9,000 Dth/d. The waiver is effective through the end of Chevron’s three-year contract with SoCalGas on Sept. 30, 2014. Involved in the case is Chevron’s role as a California gas producer delivering up to 25,000 Dth/d into the SoCalGas system. Chevron’s total capacity on the SoCalGas system will drop to 16,000 Dth/d. The change was necessitated when the gas utility was forced to close one of the interconnecting pipelines used by Chevron in 2011 because of demands from the owner of the pipeline right-of-way. Since that time, SoCalGas decided it would not build a replacement line, forcing Chevron to lower the capacity volumes covered in its multi-year contract.

Seven Pennsylvania municipalities filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a new state law which gives shale gas-rich counties the ability to impose a 15-year impact fee on unconventional gas wells, claiming that it supersedes local authority over drilling and violates the state and U.S. Constitution.

Two U.S. shareholder groups that together have more than $130 billion in investor assets on Tuesday called for more transparency by natural gas operators that use hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Despite recent complaints from one environmental group about methods used last year to dispose of some of its drilling wastewater, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.’s Marcellus Shale operations in Pennsylvania have been recycling 100% of flowback water for several months, a company spokesman told NGI’s Shale Daily Wednesday.

A federal appeals court in Washington, DC, Friday vacated a FERC order approving an expansion of Dominion Cove Point LP’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Lusby, MD, ruling that the evidence did not support the agency’s conclusion that a DC-based utility can fix widespread leaks on its system before the expansion goes into operation.

The Department of Energy (DOE) gets a failing grade when it comes to meeting its statutory obligation to issue rules on minimum energy efficiency standards for consumer products and industrial equipment, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The poor performance could cost the nation billions of dollars in lost savings, it said.

The Department of Energy (DOE) gets a failing grade when it comes to meeting its statutory obligation to issue rules on minimum energy efficiency standards for consumer products and industrial equipment, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The poor performance could cost the nation billions in lost savings, it said.

Oil and natural gas producers that hold leases on the North Slope have a contractual obligation to produce the gas reserves, and if they decline to market the gas for a “reasonable profit,” Alaska could take legal action against them, two outside attorneys told Alaska legislators on Wednesday.

Oil and natural gas producers that hold leases on the North Slope have a contractual obligation to produce the gas reserves, and if they decline to market the gas for a “reasonable profit,” Alaska could take legal action against them, two outside attorneys told Alaska legislators on Wednesday.